Not Dead Yet

The auto bailout failed cloture in the Senate last night, 52-35. The Dems needed four votes to pass this thing.

The tally is here. They got 10 Republicans, which should put them at 61. Three Dems (Baucus, Lincoln, Tester) voted no. They lost a vote when the junior Senator from Illinois resigned in anticipation of his next office. (Wasn't that a little earlier than strictly necessary? Are we sure that gentleman a far-sighted genius strategist, as widely advertised and agreed?) Kennedy might be too sick to vote, but the Senate has all sorts of collegial gimmicks (vote pairing, etc) for such things (and that's not a bad thing).

I'm surprised the Republicans had the nerve to stop this, and the skill to make UAW intransigence the morning headline. Well played, Senator Corker, Senator McConnell, Senator Shelby.

Plan B is an Administration drawdown on the TARP.

Plan C? The Dems claim there is none, outside bankruptcy. But I think the next Congress is seated on 4 January, before the Inauguration. (It was in 2005.) That Congress will seat 7 additional Senators, and would be able to pass this same legislation that very day. Are we to understand that GM can't get its suppliers and creditors to stretch them three weeks? I'm sure the Congressional Democrats don't want to start the next Congress by bailing a core constituency, but I don't see why the President should concern himself with that.